MOD LOG #1

[bequiet]

MOD LOG #1
Packing Up
Content Warnings: General tension
Themes: Survival, exploration, heavy-lifting

At the end of the month, the natives send out a mass message informing everyone of the upcoming trip to 'meet' the Sound Eaters. Preparing for the trip is simple, though labor intensive, and begins with making certain that everyone packs food, water, clothes, gear, and a twenty-pound package of sand. When it's time for the journey to begin, those tasked with watching the sandpaths, will lead the party on the journey towards the Eiffel Tower. It's a slow trip, a careful one. Natives will take breaks every few hours and when the sun sets, help everyone to set up their bed rolls around a few lanterns. The natives will unveil the star mapping feature, with constellations named and general history attached, on the devices. They will encourage those to tell stories, get out food and water, and 'talk' amongst the group before everyone settles into sleep. Out, under the night sky, the silence is more noticeable - there are no crickets or frogs. This process will repeat for two days until the group reaches the end of their destination at midday.

Sound Eaters
Content Warnings: Disorientation, confusion, character and native death, Sound Eater birth and death, body horror
Themes: Survival, exploration, horror, death

On the third day, characters will finally reach the Eiffel Tower, where the Sound Eaters in this area of France have set up their 'home'. Stopping far enough out to allow for communication, the natives will gesture to the ruins of the structure that appears to be altered. Structures are built up and around the metal frame, closing off different sections with a dark material that glints an oily-green in the light. After explaining that the Sound Eaters are influenced by the weather, rain being an issue for them, they'll take everyone closer. Silence is key here. The natives are visibly wary, tense, and uncomfortable but they believe that showing the arrivals what they're so afraid of will inspire them to be more cautious.

Now, as close to the Sound Eaters as they dare to go (less than a half mile), the natives will have everyone crouch down behind various cars and debris. The devices will say only one word, watch. As the sun begins to set and clouds darken overhead, the tower will open up, the Sound Eaters spilling out. They are split up, as the natives refer to it, into classes - the young, the shifting and the matured. The young are extremely sensitive to sound, volatile and aggressive, humanesque in form with features in various state of change. The shifting are grotesque, splitting and reforming, changing from young to matured in a shift that is punctuated by pained screams and the breaking of bones, splitting of flesh. The matured are in control. They command and guide their kind into a circle, where they all bend down, kneeling as something different than the rest comes out of the tower to stand at the center. The wind catches, dusting up red ash from it and blowing the ash towards the group - there's no way to move and it tastes familiar, coats your skin in red. They all grow quiet and a wrapped form, in the shape of a body, is placed at the Sound Eaters' feet. It crumbles, breaks apart and sprays out over the wrapped figured to completely cover it.

The shards of the Sound Eater bubble up and fuse together, creating a shell. Rain begins to fall. Light, but enough to cause the Sound Eaters to begin to move, pushing against one another but not leaving the circle. There's a shrill sound, an offbeat whistle, air escaping a tight space, a desperate inhale, and then the shell at the center splits apart. A Sound Eater died to create a new life. Smaller than the other young, the 'child' climbs up and out, but it's not the same as the others. It's form is generally human. Dark hair, androgynous features. No eyes. No mouth. Standing, it angles its head towards the matured and they move, as if on command, and surround it as it walks into the tower.

( If anyone makes noise at this point, in any way, the coming bad weather and what just occurred, will result in the Sound Eaters only attacking that person - rather than the whole group. They'll drag that person into the tower and out of sight. The character will be reset. )

The natives are upset. Spooked. They've never seen anything like that and they're quick to tell everyone this, followed by a hasty message to leave. As they're moving, the rain begins to beat down and the ground grows slippery. Making it back to the supplies is troublesome and just as the group gets close, one of the natives slips and tumbles down broken concrete, twisting and smacking against the hard surface until they come to a stop at the bottom. Anyone that goes to help will find that the native has hurt themselves and there's nothing that can be done, despite best efforts. The natives will take the time to wrap their friend up, relaying that the Sound Eaters don't attack now that the rain is heavy, and will begin the slow trek back to the community. They'll camp each night, the same as the trip up, but with an uncomfortable tension that no amount of story telling can break.

It's Raining Me- Rain. It's Just Water.
Content Warnings: None
Themes: Survival, fun, noise-making

After everyone is back in Reims, the natives will split off to bury their dead - they will not allow anyone to accompany them. Everyone is encouraged to head back to the community to get a break from the bad weather and to unload their supplies. The following day, the natives can be heard outside. Splashing and making noise, fixing houses, and what might have been a somber event will quickly turn into something a little more upbeat as rain beats down on the city. Children will play and occasionally laugh, stunted in their ability to enjoy themselves but willing to learn from the arrivals. Bigger items will be moved and natives will encourage everyone to do the 'noisier' things that they need to do. When the rain ends, work will resume as usual and soundproofing will be a lot more difficult - the water washed away sandpaths and damaged some areas. Cleaning up will take time but the natives aren't as unhappy with the situation as they just had a moment's respite from the normal tension of their everyday lives.

OOC
From your mods:

Please be mindful of content - if something triggery comes up or if it goes up a rating to say, something sexy, mark your threads in the subject line. We're very flexible and allow any material; we just want our players to be respectful of each other. If you have questions, pp the mod account, use the faq or comment to the appropriate post below. Have fun! The OOC Plotting Post.

NAVIGATION

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Comments

[oorah]

We? [ he manages an incredulous laugh of his own, pushing at her playfully. he might just be all puddled out, rey. ] I'm like twice your age.

[ wait. ] How old are you? [ he never thought to ask before. ]

[kiljoy]

[Like anyone else matters? Come on. It's only his safety he's concerned with here. He resists from rolling his eyes but there's no point in protesting. Fine. He'll have to take what he can get.

So he nods, accepting the caveat, and hopes that it's enough to keep him safe.]

[a2brutus]

[Well... With that out of the way:]

Did you need anything else? I carried in extra supplies of food and water, so there should be plenty.

[bequiet]

Hi! Sound Eaters are very perceptible to noise. They're very on edge and aggressive right now, meaning that by the time anyone got anywhere near them they would have heard and that character would be reset. There's the opportunity to get a little closer to see them better, watch them for a while but not close enough to sneak up on them. He could try to do something but he'd be taken out before he would know if he were successful or not.

.. but can the Sound Eaters actually see? hmm.

[kiljoy]

[The water hasn't poisoned him and she seems genuinely inclined to help, so yes, again he's going to take everything he can get. He nods.]

I could do with some extra food supplies. What have you got?

[ghostfluster]

[he probably isn't physically near enough to her to see it, but her mouth quirks when she sees his reply. she's glad he's around.]

i hope they make more sense than the ones on this app! what i'm getting from those is mostly that there's a lot of animals one god or another chucked up into the sky for some reason

that can't have been comfortable

[a2brutus]

Canned soup, jars of fruit, things like that.

[And don't worry about a can opener, A2 can pop the tops off of cans like nobodies business.]

[oorah]

[ frank castle is a strange guy, okay?? he gestures to the rest of the group, they've already fallen behind. time to go see these sound eaters or whatever the fuck. ]

[ghostfluster]

[Rosa's not making herself particularly obvious just yet, but it might be possible to spot her; she's obviously texting, and the light from the phone screen makes her pale hair obvious, if nothing else. it's a reasonably distinctive feature that matches her userpic]

do you know what they're supposed to represent too

some of these are just, here's a curve of stars and it's supposed to be a dude's leg or a rabbit or something

kind of interesting to see how people get from one thing to the other

[xochipilli_cursed]

probably not. imagine getting stuck in the darkness, only giving light to others and saving none for yourself.

i'm told that every star has someone on it, watching over the darkness and holding it back so the world can have light. i like that thought a little more.

[Nope, he misses the smile but he likes the more optimistic view of the skies.]

[steal]

Are you?

[Rey looks confused by this for a second. Age isn't really something she pays attention to, which would explain why her not-bf is 10 years older than she is. Whatever, the important thing is here he seems younger than he's making himself out to be.]

I think I'm almost twenty.

3

[twoaffirmations]

[9S still isn't sure about Kilgrave, but he was surprised to see him during the camping trip. He wondered if that meant things had been resolved, but never had the chance to ask himself along the way.

When Kilgrave approaches him, it's perfect timing. He follows after him, posing questions as they go.]

Sure thing, Sir. I noticed you're not in hiding anymore, does that mean you and Mrs. Jones came to an agreement?

4

[twoaffirmations]

[Following their meeting with the Sound Eaters, 9S had documented as much data he could on their form, weaknesses, and population count. Now he was rifling through it, both on his visor and his device, consolidating it to a single file that he could share with the other androids.

He doesn't seem to notice or care about the spiders crawling all over him.

Actually, he just casually brushed one off his neck.]

[oorah]

And I'm almost forty. [ well, he's a couple years off, really. but age doesn't matter so much to frank, it's just the difference between two decades of fucked up shit or four. though he does give a fond eyeroll for her disbelief. ] What do you mean you think? [ she's lived all of the years herself, she should know!! ]

[hoaxer]

[Even without hands - or anything human to allow him to "talk" like the other residents - Safavid gets his point across without any trouble. Her systems are able to make an approximation of what he's trying to say, meaning that he's signing with good accuracy.

If she were in a lighter mood, she'd remark on how quickly he's learning. Maybe it's a trait that magical items have, to have a natural ability to pick up whatever comes their way.

Unfortunately, what she'd seen at the Eiffel Tower still burns in her mind. She takes one step in the direction Safavid tugs her towards - slow and hesitant - before she shakes her head.]

NO. THIS BODY WAS BUILT FOR WORSE.

[Whether "worse" accounted for monstrous humanoids was another question. She wonders for a moment if Safavid can feel "afraid."]

YOU SEEM VERY EXCITED.

[hoaxer]

[It is better to have optimism in this sort of situation rather than to blindly resign to fate. But Lu Li doesn't have much optimism in her right now. All she can think about is the terrifying aura those creatures gave, how they were invisible, meaning that they could be anywhere at any moment-]

THOSE THINGS HAVE BEEN HERE FOR GENERATIONS. WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY FIND?

[hoaxer]

[Lu Li can't feel Lorem's hand but she knows the young woman has grabbed onto her arm. Against her flesh, her metallic shell must feel unkind - sharp, blunt, with none of the softness that a human presence could offer. She may as well cling to an iron chain to receive the same comfort.

But Lu Li's glad that she doesn't have to waste any words. One look at Lorem's face and she knows that she knows. That means they can focus on running, on getting away.

Because who knows when they'll be noticed? Lu Li's eye darts between Lorem and the Sound Eaters, lense flared bright red and wide as her systems calculate frantically over the new stimuli.

There's nothing else that needs to be said. She turns on her heel, remembering just in time to be quiet, and starts moving away from the group.

If they want to stay, they can stay. She won't waste precious time convincing them otherwise. At least she'll keep Lorem safe --]

[hoaxer]

[What a sweet child??? Lu Li dips her head as if saying "hello" and holds out the basket.]

I HEARD YOU TWO WERE WORKING HARD.

[Her voice is a soft buzz, like a computer whirring.]

I BROUGHT YOU SOME PEACHES.

[hoaxer]

[Lu Li takes the makeshift staff, turning it this way and that. There's nothing in her database that tells her about how it was made, of course - that space was reserved for common weapons that hostiles carried, and wooden sticks were typically not on the roster. But with her human mind, she can pick up on the marks of craftsmanship. It's truly nothing fancy, but it tells her that Rey knows at least the basics of woodcarving.

She looks up when Rey moves towards her staff. Sheepish, her eye shutters halfway and she glances down at the weapon in her hands.]

I WON'T BE A GOOD SPARRING PARTNER. ARE YOU SURE?

[hoaxer]

[Good. There's no need to waste energy or time on convincing the other. As for the rest of the group--?

(Cassie would've stayed to help. She would've remained calm and herded everyone to somewhere safe once things took a turn for the worse. But Lu Li isn't Cassie - and Cassie isn't here. This is what she's best at: bailing when things got bad.)

Lu Li relies on her systems to trace the path they had taken. They'll go back the way they came. With the rain pouring, the sand they had left behind were becoming clumps of mud. Even as they fled, they would have to be careful - Lu Li especially, given her metallic body. She forces herself to keep a slow pace beside Mitsuha, even as fear courses through her circuits. Don't step in the puddles, don't make a single sound--]

[hoaxer]

[Even with the rain pouring, Lu Li is attuned to human voices. She pauses for a moment, trying to remember who this was when her memories click. With some renewed energy, she begins hammering the nails even harder.]

YOU DIDN'T GO. THAT WAS A SMART MOVE.

[In comparison to her vicious work, her voice is a relatively quiet buzz.]

[hoaxer]

[Lu Li picks up on that look. If she could smile at him, she would. As it stood, she cants her head and doesn't drop her hand. She's sure that if she worked on him a little, he'll fold sooner or later.

With her free hand, she raises her device.]

OH? STAYING UP LATE'LL MAKE YOUR DARK CIRCLES EVEN DARKER, MR. HERO.

[hoaxer]

[What are you? is a question Lu Li has become accustomed to. It's better than outright hostility, even if the curiosity makes her feel uncomfortable. But wouldn't she do the same in their shoes? Why would a robot act like a human - why a combat android would appear in an area of designated peace -

It's why when the boy approaches her, Lu Li looks up from her work without any annoyance. She turns around so she can better show her body language - in case he needs that extra information - and quickly signs back.

(She needs to practice without her device, anyway.)]

It's a long story. I am a human "borrowing" this body.

[gimmesometassel]

[There's some sort of gesture, one Carpet isn't familiar with--maybe some sort of language other than the ones the locals use? Once he tries again, though, Carpet recognizes the word. He rises off the ground and does a showy little loop-dep-loop, spreading his tassels wide (ta-da~!) before signing back a single word in return.]

Magic!

[dryeyes]

[That was certainly a difference between being able to speak and only being able to type... he couldn't force the appropriate tone of finality into text. He fiddles, adjusting the straps on the bag he did bring, before the reply.]

I always look like this. [... because he always shorts himself sleep. Still, that's the point, he's more used to it than some of the other people who had dragged themselves along on the trip.]

I'd rather keep watch. [he even sets the device down, that message displayed, while turning to sort through some small packages of dried fruit he'd organized. As if he weren't expecting another reply.]